The Savages (2007)

From what we're told, dad was an asshole when he was raising his son and daughter by himself and pretty much disappeared completely from their lives once they were old enough to get out on their own. So, while I can understand why they both would feel a responsibility to get him squared away in a facility when his girlfriend dies and he's suffering from dementia, what I didn't understand was why the daughter would feel it necessary to throw in seemingly manufactured displays of affection along with the undeserved care.

Can you tell this kind of hits close to home for me? I mean, even though I can relate to the adult children in this film (they neither like nor spend time with their toxic parents), I still found myself wondering why this story needed to be told. And, if so, is this representation the most common way for this situation to play out?

Everyone does a fantastic job filling out the roles -- but I just didn't really like Laura Linney's self-centered "it affected me!" character, and she's obviously the one for whom we're supposed to root.

B-